While he was saying this, it happened that a woman in the crowd raised her voice and cried to him: Blessed is the womb that carried you, and the breasts that you sucked. But he said to her: Blessed rather are those who listen to the word of God and obey it.
As the crowds gathered he began to say: This generation is a corrupt generation. It asks for a sign, but no sign shall be given it unless it be the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh so is the son of man to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up on the day of judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them; because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, there is more than Solomon here. The men of Nineveh will arise on the day of judgment with this generation and condemn it; because they repented upon the proclamation of Jonah, and behold, there is more than Jonah here. No one lights a lamp and then puts it in a hiding place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is your eye. When your eye is clear, the whole of your body is also full of light; but when it is soiled, your body also is in darkness. Consider then whether the light in you may not be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part that is dark, it will all be light as when the lamp illuminates you with its beam.
While he was talking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him; and when he entered, he took his place at table. And the Pharisee seeing this was surprised that he had not washed before the meal. But the Lord said to him: Now you Pharisees scour the outside of the cup and the plate, but what is inside you teems with rapacity and corruption. You fools. Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give away what is inside as charity, and see, all is clean with you. But woe to you Pharisees, because you pay a tenth on the mint and the rue and every kind of potherb, but you pass over the judgment and the love of God; but you should have done that, without neglecting the other. Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the first seats in the synagogues and the salutations in the public places. Woe to you, because you are like concealed unmarked graves, and people walk upon you without knowing it. One of those expert in the law spoke up and said to him: Master, in saying this you attack us also. But he said: And woe to you, experts in the law, because you load people with burdens that are hard to carry, and you yourselves do not put a finger to the burdens. Woe to you, because you build the tombs of the prophets, but your fathers killed them. But you are witnesses, and you join in approval of their actions, because they killed them and you build their tombs. Therefore even the wisdom of God has said: I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of these they will kill and persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets that has been spilled since the establishment of the world may be exacted from this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah who was killed between the altar and the temple. Yes, I tell you, it will be exacted from this generation. Woe to you, experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You did not go in yourselves, and you prevented those who tried to go in. And when he went away from them, the scribes and Pharisees began to hate him terribly, and to try to make him speak carelessly about more matters, lying in wait to catch him up on something he might let fall.
41 As the multitude gathered by tens of thousands, so that they trampled each other, he began to speak first to his disciples: Guard yourselves against the leaven, that is, the hypocrisy, of the Pharisees. There is nothing concealed that shall not be revealed, nothing secret that shall not be known. Because of which, what you say in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have said in someone's ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. But I say to you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body but are able to do nothing more after that. I will show you which one to fear. Fear the one who has authority after killing you to throw you into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear that one. Are not five sparrows sold for two coppers? And not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God. But even the hairs of your heads are all numbered. Have no fear; you are worth many sparrows. I tell you, everyone who will acknowledge me before men the son of man will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me in the sight of men shall be denied in the sight of the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the son of man shall have it forgiven him; but for the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the powers and the authorities, do not be concerned about how you will defend yourselves and what you will say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you must say.
Someone in the crowd said to him: Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him: My good man, who appointed me your judge or your arbitrator? And he said to them: Look to it and keep yourselves from all greed, because a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable, saying: There was a certain rich man whose land was fruitful. And he deliberated within himself, saying: What shall I do, since I have no place where I can store all my crops? And he said: Here is what I will do. I will tear down my granaries and build bigger ones, and I will bring all my grain and my goods together there, and I will say to my soul: Soul, you have many good things stored away, for many years. Rest, eat, drink, enjoy yourself. But God said to him: You fool, they demand that soul of you tonight. Who will have what you provided? So much for him who stores up treasures for himself rather than being rich for God.
And he said to his disciples: Therefore I tell you, do not take thought for your life, what you will eat, or for your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Think of the ravens, that they do not sow or harvest, they have neither storehouse nor granary, and God feeds them. How much more are you worth than the birds! Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his growth? If then you cannot achieve the least, why are you concerned about the rest? Think of the lilies, how they grow. They do not toil or spin; yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. But if God so arrays the grass in the field which grows today and tomorrow is thrown in the oven, how much more will he array you, you men of little faith! Do not you then keep searching for what you can eat and what you can drink, and do not be troubled, for all the nations of the world search for these things, and your father knows that you need them; only search for his kingdom, and all these things will be added also. Do not fear, little flock; because your father has been well pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell what you own and give it away as charity; make yourselves purses that do not wear out, an infallible treasure house in heaven, where no thief attacks, no moth corrupts; for where your treasure is, there also will be your heart.
Let your loins be girt up and your lamps burning, and yourselves like men who are expecting their master when he comes back from the wedding, so that when he comes and knocks they can open promptly to him. Blessed are those slaves whom this master returning finds wide awake; truly I tell you, he will gird himself up and set them down to dine and go about and wait on them. And if he comes in the second watch or the third and finds them thus, blessed are they. But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what time the thief was coming, he would have been watchful and not let his house be broken into. And you, be ready, because the son of man comes in the hour when you do not expect him. Peter said: Lord, are you telling this parable to us or to all? And the Lord said: Who is the faithful steward, the prudent one, whom his master will set over the servants of his household to give them their measure of food when it is due? Blessed is that slave whom his master arriving finds doing thus; truly I tell you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says in his heart: My master is late returning; and begins to beat the men- servants and the maidservants, and to eat and d
rink and get drunk; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him in the hour when he is unaware, and cut him to ribbons, and make his lot one with the unfaithful. That slave who knows the will of his master, and does not make ready or act according to his will, will be beaten with many strokes; but the one who knows nothing and does what deserves whipping will be beaten with few strokes. Everyone to whom much is given will have much required of him; from him to whom much was entrusted they will demand more.
I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what is my will if it has already been lit? I have a baptism to undergo, and how I am oppressed until it is done with. Do you think that I came to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, dissension rather. For from now there will be five in one house at odds with each other, three against two and two against three, and father will be at odds with son and son with father, mother with daughter and daughter with mother, mother-in-law with her daughter-in-law and daughter- in-law with mother-in-law.
And he said to the multitudes: When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once: Rain is coming. And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say: There will be hot weather. And so it happens. You hypocrites, you know how to read the face of the earth and the sky, but how is it you do not know how to read this time? And why do you not judge what is right of your own will. As you go with your adversary at law to the magistrate, make an effort to be reconciled with him on the way there, for fear he may drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the bailiff, and the bailiff throw you in prison. I tell you, you cannot come out of there until you pay the last penny.
41 At that time some people came to him and brought him news about the Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And he answered and said to them: Do you suppose that these Galilaeans, because they suffered this, were sinners as compared with the rest of the Galilaeans? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all be destroyed like them. Or those eighteen when the tower at Siloam fell on them and killed them. Do you suppose they were guilty as compared with all the rest of the people whc live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all be destroyed in the same way. And he told them this parable: A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he went looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the gardener: It is three years now since I began coming and looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding it. Cut it down. Why should it be wasting the soil? But he answered and said to him: Master, let it go for this year too, until I have cultivated it and put manure on it. And if it bears fruit after that, well: . . . but if it does not, you will cut it down.
He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, and she was bent over and unable to straighten up at all. And Jesus saw her and spoke to her and said: Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity, and laid his hands on her. And immediately she straightened up and glorified God. But the head of the synagogue, angered because Jesus had given treatment on the sabbath, said to the congregation: There are six days in which one must work. Come then and be healed on those days and not on the day of the sabbath. The Lord answered him and said: You hypocrites, does not each of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the crib and lead him to water? And she, who is a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had kept bound for eighteen years, must she not be loosed from this bondage on the day of the sabbath? And when he said this, all who were set against him were put to shame, and all the masses were happy over all the glorious things that came to be through him.
Then he said: What is the Kingdom of God like, and to what shall I liken it? It is like a grain of mustard, which a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, so that the birds of the air came and nested in its branches. And again he said: To what shall I liken the Kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and buried in three measures of dough, so that it all rose.
And he journeyed through the cities and villages, teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem. And a man said to him: Lord, will those who are saved be few? And he said to them: Struggle to go in through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, try to get in and are not able to, from the time when the master of the house wakens and bars the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying: Lord, open to us. And he will answer and say to you: I do not know you or where you come from. Then you will begin to say: We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our public places. Then he will speak and say to you: I do not know where you come from. Go away from me, all you workers of iniquity. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, and yourselves cast outside. And they will come from the east and the west, and the north and the south, and be feasted in the Kingdom of God. And behold, they are last who will be first, and they are first who will be last.
In the same hour some Pharisees came to him and said: Go and make your way from here, because Herod wants to kill you. And he said to them: Go and say to that fox: Look, I cast out demons and effect my cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I am done. But I must go forward today and tomorrow and the next day, because there is no way for a prophet to be killed outside Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I have wished to gather your children together as a bird gathers her brood under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is deserted. I tell you, you cannot see me until you say: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
•1 And it happened that when he went to the house of one of the leading Pharisees, and dined, that they were watching him closely. And behold, there was a man before him who suffered from dropsy. And Jesus spoke forth and said to the legal experts and the Pharisees: Is it lawful or not to give treatment on the sabbath? They held their peace. He took hold of him, and healed him, and dismissed him. And he said to them: Which of you will have a son, or an ox, fall down a well, and will not immediately pull him out on the day of the sabbath? And they were not able to answer that.
And he told the guests a parable, applying it to the way they apportioned their places of honor, and said to them: When you are invited by someone to a wedding, do not recline in the first place, for fear someone he honors more than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both may come and say to you: Give this man the place. And then you will begin, with shame, to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and set yourself in the last place, so that when your host comes he will say to you: My friend, come on up higher. Then you will have dignity in the sight of all your fellow guests; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
And he said to the man who had invited him: When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or your rich neighbors, lest they too invite you in return and some recompense befall you. But when you are receiving, invite the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind; and you will be blessed, because they are not able to repay you; for it will be repaid you at the resurrection of the righteous.
Hearing this, one of his fellow guests said: Blessed is he who dines in the Kingdom of God. Jesus said to him: A certain man was holding a great feast, and he invited many, and at the time for the feast he sent out his slave to say to those who were invited: Come, since everything is now ready. Then they all at once began to make excuses. The first one said to him: I have bought a piece of land and I must go out and look at it; I pray you, hold me excused. Another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am on my way to try them out. I pray you, hold me excused. And another said: I took a wife in marriage, and therefore I cannot come. And the slave came back and reported all this to his m
aster. Then the master of the house was angry and said to his slave: Go out quickly into the squares and streets of the city and bring here the poor and the maimed and the blind and the lame. And the slave said: Master, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room. And the master said to his slave: Go out to the highways and the hedgerows and force them to come in, so that my house may be full; for I tell you that not one of those other men who were invited shall taste of my feast.
Many multitudes followed him along the way, and he turned and said to them: If someone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. He who does not take up his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you who desires to build a tower does not first sit down and reckon the cost, to see if he has enough for its completion? For fear that, after he has set down the foundation and cannot finish it, all the people watching him may begin to tease him and say: This man began to build, and he could not finish. Or what king, on his way to encounter another king in battle, will not fust sit down and think out whether with his ten thousand he is strong enough to meet the man who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he is not, while the other is still far off, he sends an embassy to ask for peace. So, therefore, any of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple. Salt is good: but if the salt loses its power, with what will it be seasoned? It is fit for neither the land nor the dunghill. They throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
tl All the tax collectors and the sinners kept coming around him, to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes muttered, saying: This man receives sinners and eats with them. But he told them this parable, saying: Which man among you who has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them will not leave the ninety-nine in the wilds and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders, rejoicing, and goes to his house and invites in his friends and his neighbors, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I found my sheep which was lost. I tell you that thus there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, rather than over ninety-nine righteous ones who have no need of repentance. Or what woman who has ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light the lamp and sweep the house and search diligently until she finds it? And finding it she invites in her friends and neighbors, saying: Rejoice with me, because I found the drachma I lost. Such, I tell you, is the joy among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
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